The Digiday Podcast

The Amazon-FTC case and the myth of ad auction transparency

The U.S. Federal Trade Commission’s lawsuit against Amazon’s on-platform search advertising business appears to be a tempest in a teapot. Amazon’s alleged opaque ad aucti

5 questions facing advertisers, publishers and creators heading into fall

A lot can happen in a few months. A few months ago, NBCUniversal was secure within Comcast, LiveRamp was an independent ad tech company, Hank Green was unbesmirched, and

The case for and against publishers blocking Google

Google’s AI crawlers are eating away at publisher traffic by serving answers directly in search, but blocking them comes with risks. Digiday media reporter Sara Guaglione

AI is reshaping agency work, but where's the line?

Agencies are pushing AI deeper into everyday work while still figuring out what should and shouldn't be automated. Digiday caught up with agency leaders and early-career

How much control should AI have over media buying?

Butler/Till is quickly moving its AI agent media buying work from experimentation to implementation across more clients, platforms and channels. Controls, however, look d

Inside’s Stagwell’s AI media curation marketplace

Inventory access has become a tug-of-war between agencies and ad tech companies. In this episode, Matt Adams, global CEO of Stagwell Media Platform, joins the Digiday Pod

WTF is the IAB's Redefining Media Types standard?

The IAB has a new acronym—the RMT, short for Redefining Media Types Standard. But this acronym could actually matter. In this episode of the Digiday Podcast, Jamie Finste

What happens to agencies when AI does the busywork?

As AI takes on more repetitive marketing tasks, agencies are being forced to rethink what they’re selling. Omnicom Media Group North America CEO Ralph Pardo joins Digiday

The anatomy of a sports marketing deal with Ally CMO Andrea Brimmer

For a channel expected to rake in $5.3 billion between 2026 and 2030, a logo on a jersey isn't enough anymore. On this episode of the Digiday Podcast, Ally Bank CMO Andre

Creators vs. influencers: Inside the divide (RERUN)

Is there a difference between a creator and an influencer. If so, what’s the difference and why does it matter to marketers? On this episode of the Digiday Podcast, Digid

Inside the infrastructure behind Unilever’s creator force

Creators are no longer a media channel or transaction. It’s an entirely new marketing model, at least that’s what the infrastructure behind Unilever’s creator strategy in

Meta courts agencies with expanded ad tools while AI reshapes the industry

At the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity this week, Meta announced a slew of even more automated marketing tools, further lowering the barrier to entry fo

Spotify rebuilds ad business around automation, AI to win bigger media budgets

Spotify’s ad business is trying to evolve beyond audio. At this year's Cannes Lions, Digiday senior marketing reporter Kimeko McCoy catches up with Brian Berner, VP of ad

What happens when brands AI clone their talent?

Digital twins are helping brands scale content and talent deals. Marketers are still navigating the tradeoffs. On this episode of the Digiday Podcast, hosts Kimeko McCoy

How automation and AI are rewriting the upfront marketplace

The upfront marketplace has long been built on relationships and negotiation. Now, automation and AI are changing how deals get done.

ChatGPT ads are underperforming. Why are brands staying?

OpenAI's ad pilot is plagued with reporting hiccups and under-delivery issues. It's testing marketer's patience, but the fear of missing out on AI's next big platforms se

BuzzFeed, Vox and the end of the site traffic era

Once valued in the billions, digital media giants like BuzzFeed and Vox Media are now selling assets and restructuring as the old traffic-driven publishing model breaks d

Can retail media networks survive the shift to agentic commerce?

If shoppers start turning to AI assistants instead of retailer websites, the foundation of the retail media business could begin to crack. That’s the tension at the cente

Why Duluth trusts AI agents with bidding, but not brand storytelling

The programmatic world seems split: is AI the future of media buying, or just a tool requiring heavy supervision? Duluth Trading Company lands somewhere in the middle by

WTF are brand health metrics?

Is the era of performance-only marketing over? Performance returns are dropping. Brands are chasing AI visibility as LLMs take over search. All roads point to the return